Friday, August 11, 2017

North Caucasus Republics Could Flourish on Their Own, Israeli Political Analyst Says

Paul
Goble

Staunton, August 10 – Even people
who accept that the north Caucasus is a Russian colony often argue that the
republics of that region would be incapable of living on their own. But Avraam
Shmulyevich says that history shows they could and that both they and Russia
itself would be better off if they were to become independent.

The Israeli political analyst points
out that “the Caucasus is one of the most ancient hearths of civilization on
the planet, and the North Caucasus people, the majority of whom have lived on
this territory for thousands of years, have cities like Derbent, the history of
which is counted in millenia” (afterempire.info/2017/08/08/sevkavkaz/).

Over this period, they have often
created stable societies and states, and even during the last 200 years when
there has been “an uninterrupted” Russian colonial advance, one “accompanied by
genocide” and “scorched earth” policies, the peoples of this region have been
able to organize and resist.

In the course of centuries,
Shmulyevich says, “the Caucasus peoples have suffered many catastrophes,
invasions and conquests. Russia’s colonial rule is only one of them.”It has been a “disintegrating” factor, and it
will take time to overcome the consequences of its rule. But the Caucasus has
existed as a distinct civilization for more than 2000 years.

Moscow, in contrast, “occupied all
of its territory only 153 years ago.”

In resisting Russian expansionism, the
North Caucasus peoples “have demonstrated remarkable even unprecedented
vitality and an ability to establish vital social structures in very different
foreign political and economic conditions,” the Israeli analyst says. There is
no reason to think they couldn’t do the same if Russia were to leave.

Russia will certainly try to drive
the region into chaos if it leaves. Its preferred tactic will be delayed action
mines, like those which have already exploded in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and
Karabakh, but also like those “in other places” which are only waiting to be
set off to bring Moscow maximum advantage.

But if Russia is able to generate
chaos, that will not last, Shmulyevich says. “The capacity for
self-organization and the formation of a stable society” is one that “the
peoples of the Caucasus have demonstrated over the course of millenia.” They can
and will do so again when Russia departs.